And THE MUSIC! What an eargasmic soundtrack.
One scene in particular, I was jaw-dropped in its entirety as direction, action-choreography and music all came together so harmoniously. The use of colour, design and the straight up imagination of the source material outstand any MCU film prior. I can't believe these bunch of lovable misfit a-holes made one of the most MATURE themed films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I can safely say GotG Volume 2 absolutely wowed me. I was lucky enough to see this on 20/4 at an industry screening which allowed me to sit on the film for a few days before I gave a review. I have high hopes for the future of the MCU, it's clear that the studio let Gunn's creativity speak for itself and boy did he have a lot to say.
If you were a fan of the first, don't doubt, Gunn delivers a space opera that lives up to it's hype. To add the cherry on top of this pie is the soundtrack(Sam Cooke's Bring it on Home to Me), that was meticulously chosen. The big difference is the focus on Peter's story, As our heroin meets his long lost father Ego(brilliantly played by Kurt Russell), who shows up at the knick of time, as Rocket pisses off Ayesha(Elizabeth Debicki) who sends a space armada after them. As is the case here, as Gunn delivers the same charm, humor and emotion as the first film. However there are rare moments when the sequel lives up to it's predecessor. To be honest, I was a bit anxious, as we are familiar with Hollywoods track record when it comes to sequels. As someone who was floored by the first film, I was eager to see how the second installment in Gunn's trilogy(yes, it's a trilogy now) would pan out.